What would you upgrade in this system?

[Arcanedeath]

My current Specs...

CPU: Intel Core 2 E8400 3000MHz @ 4050MHz
CPU HSF: Tuniq Tower 120 @ 1250 Rpm (its cold in Ohio atm 🙂)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus Formula X38
Memory: 8GB of GSkill DDR2 1000 @ 900 5 5 5 15 2T (1.9V)
Video Card: BFG Tech 8800GT OC 8800GT w/ AC S1 +120mm fan 675/1900
Hard Drive: WDC WD4000AAJS 400.0 GB @ 7200 RPMS
Additional Hard Drives: 1x WDC WD4000AAJS 400GB (in AMS hotswap bay)
2x WDC WD6400AAKS 640GB ea. (in AMS hotswap bay)
1x WDC External 400GB USB 2
1x Maxtor 500 External USB 2
Monitor: Acer X241Wsd & Acer X221Wsd
DVD R/W: Asus DRW-1814BLT & Liteon LH-20A1S
Storage Interface: SATA
Sound Card: Onboard ADI AD1988B HD audio
Operating System: Dual boot Win XP Pro Sp3 / Visa Business 64bit Sp1
Sound System: Onkyo TX-SR501 HT reciver + 5.1 speaker setup (4x BIC addato 52si 1x DV32CLR and 1x Altec Lansing 200watt 12" powered sub),
Case: Antec P180 v1.1
Power Supply: 750 watt PCP&C Silencer
KBB & Mouse Logitec MX518 & MS Ergo 4000 keyboard

I used to game alot more than i currently do but I still play Rpgs frequently, mostly the Witcher, & NWN2 recently still also do WCIII, most recent FPS I've messed w/ is Bioshock & had fun w/ that, but I don't do FPS's that much anymore.

I have aprox $400 I'm considering tossing into this PC and am not really sure where it should go or should I just save the cash for a rainy day and upgrade later?

I was mainly thinking of replacing the video card but as I'm gaming less & less I wasn't sure if its really a worthwhile upgrade from what I've already got. I was a bit sad at how my Card was handling 1920x1200 w/ AA/AF

I was also kinda leaning towards consolidating my HDDs & maybe dumping the 400's and the Externals and getting a couple 1.5 TB drives to replace em. or a better Exteranal Storage Soloution.

I have my whole DVD & Music Collection Backed up to my PC along w/ a never ending steam of Anime Fansubs that keep eating more space ( 300GB of Anime and counting 🙂)

Primary uses for the PC are Websurfing, Gaming, Anime watching & HTPC duties (in that order 😛)

Sorry to ramble but give me your Thoughts on where to go on this!

 

[Denithor]

Grab 2-3 WD 1TB drives to clean up that hodge-podge of drives you've built up.

If you do a lot of encoding, you will be happy to know that Intel just dropped the prices of several of their 45nm quads. Grab a Q9550 from mwave for $275 and watch your encoding times drop significantly.

Upgrade the GPU if it's not handling anything you want to play. I'm kinda in the same boat with you there, I had a GTX 260 in my gaming rig, sold it recently and dropped back down to my G92 GTS instead because I just don't have time to game much anymore.

My rigs are actually very similar to yours but with much less hdd clutter. I'm considering one of the quads but may just hold out for Westmere (32nm i7 - cooler, faster, plus motherboards & DDR3 will be cheaper by late 2009/early 2010). I may pick up one of the low power 45nm quads (Q9550s, Q9400s) even though they cost a bit more than the basic models.

 

[Rike]

Not much to do here. I'd just hold my cash for a real upgrade later, but if you really wanted to spend it . . .

With all the drives you have, and the fact that you'll keep needing space you could pick up something like this large external enclosure. Then you could use what you already have and add new drives as need with out ripping things apart every time you get a bigger disk or paying a new external drive.

 

[Arcanedeath]

Thanks for that suggestion on that AMS Esata Enclosure, it uses the same trays as my 3in2 hotswap bay and is probabily worth while 🙂 if I just don't consolidate the drives. I've actualy got 2 more 320GB WD drives on the shelf that I ran out of space for, so I could prolly put that thing into service right away.

edit: On the Quad, I might consider grabing a Q9550 or Q9650, but as I've got my whole collection coverted already and just add to it as I get more dvd's I've been fairly happy w/ how the E8400 @ 4050 does that and I've prolly need to get better cooling to push a quad as far as the dually, (might not even be possible as the Maximus Forumla only has 1 GTL ref adjustment not 2 like some other boards so can't push quads as far)